Miss Manners on Painfully Proper Weddings

by Judith Martin

Book Overview

The doyenne of American etiquette experts now turns her undivided attention to weddings. In her trademark witty, and authoritative way, Miss Manners gives advice that will make the big day more pleasant for one and all, including the bride. 15 line drawings.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517701871
• ISBN13: 9780517701874
• Release Date: December 1995
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly witty every time

I bought this book for my father, who is about to be remarried. The lessons of the book are mainly concerned with the weddings of more idealistic, first-time couples with larger weddings in mind, but since my dad used to read "Miss Manner's Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior" to us as kids (for humor more than etiquette), I thought it would be a fun gift. You'll have a good laugh with this book even if you are just planning to attend a wedding, or have ever attended one. As for engaged couples and their parents and other close relatives, this book is a practical guide to keeping your head on your shoulders and creating a beautiful, wonderful wedding without ruining relationships or creating such high expectations that the ensuing marriage is lackluster. Miss Manners states in her introduction that the book is not intended for brides, since they already have enough to worry about, but if you are a bride-to-be and have not yet really entered the fray of wedding planners and bridal showers, and can take some constructive criticism, it wouldn't hurt to check this book out. The question and answer inserts between Miss Manners and her "gentle readers" are particularly illuminating, and Martin (Miss Manners) includes proper invitation examples and other such practical material. Most of all, Miss Manner's wit and sense of etiquette based on human decency rather than petty formal tradition are refreshing and make the even the sterner of her lessons and warnings easy to swallow...if you can stop chuckling.

Sanity in a slim volume

Love, love, LOVE this book and Miss Manners! Lots of the basic questions that came up in planning my wedding were covered, but more important is the philosophy she espouses. After you read this book you will find it hard to flip through all those bridal magazines without rolling your eyes at the fuss they make over trivial topics. Miss Manners reminds you what's truly important. We had a lovely wedding that was universally described as "perfect" and no stress whatsoever in planning it. I give this book to all my friends as soon as they get engaged.

Glad to see it back in print....

...because maybe now I can get my much-traveled copy back.If you'd like to get married with some dignity, rather than make an idiot of yourself, this is your guide.

Provides useful information with great sense of humor.

The title tells it all. It's painful to be proper. However, Ms. Martin's great sense of humor makes reading this book fun. This is one of the few wedding books worth buying. I don't agree with Ms. Martin 100% on every aspect of a wedding, especially those having to do with a different cultural background. However, the principles of being respectful and thankful, etc. are true in every human society. This is a book that everyone, hosts and guests alike, should read.

Provides the answers to any questions worth asking

The brevity of this book reflects a basic fact about tasteful weddings--they shouldn't be so far out of your everyday experience that you need hundreds and hundreds of pages of advice. Most efforts at originality have more to do with egos running amok than with concern for the seriousness of the occasion or for the guests' comfort. I used this and the chapter on weddings in "Excruciatingly Correct Behavior." No one fought over wedding planning, everyone had a wonderful time, and our friends said they thought the wedding really suited us. What more could anyone want?